Category: Games

SUPERHOT studio has announced ‘SUPERHOT Presents‘, a new fund aimed at helping independent developers make and release small, unusual games. According to the announcement, the team wanted to assist in the creation of other people’s games, and to start off with they’ve signed on to assist with two games that are nothing like their own output. The games in question are the Frog Detective series, developed by Grace Bruxner and her new studio Worm Club, and Knuckle Sandwich, developed by Andrew Brophy. Both games are being developed in Australia.

So far one game has been released in the Frog Detective series, ‘The Haunted Island’. SUPERHOT studio has this to say of the game: “It’s simple. It’s perfect. We love how wholesome and warm and funny it is, we enjoy the game, we like the team, so we offered to help.” The trailer, below, should give you some idea of the game’s tone. A sequel, Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard, is currently in the works.

Knuckle Sandwich is developer Andrew Brophy’s RPG “about a boy looking for work in a new city,” styled after old Game Boy Advance titles. It’s a weird, distinctive title, and it features both a missing persons mystery and a cult, according to its Steam page. The game is, according to Brophy, reaching the final stages of development, although a release date has not yet been set.

SUPERHOT is not becoming a publisher, but instead wants to help indie developers who “just need some finishing (or starting) funds,” along with some mentoring and advice. Assistance will be offered by the four “businessy types” SUPERHOT studio currently employs, alongside the funds offered.

SUPERHOT studios is more famous for the game that the studio was named after. In his 8/10 review of the game back in 2016, Peter Brown praised the game’s storytelling: “while the core gameplay didn’t evolve drastically, the story that drives it did, taking me along for a ride that I never saw coming.

A new post on Fortnite’s website, credited to ‘The Fortnite Team’, explains why the B.R.U.T.E. mechs were added to the game and the impact they’ve had so far.

The post acknowledges that the mechs have been controversial, but explains that they were added because one of the goals of Fortnite is “to bring players of all skill levels together to have a fun experience where anyone can win.” The random nature of the mechs, which could give any player a massive unexpected advantage, gives less-experienced players a greater chance of racking up eliminations, or even a Victory Royale. “Right now, we know there are players out there who have never had that opportunity,” the post says. They also want to provide “spectacle and entertainment”, which means trying new things and introducing interesting wrinkles.

The post also contains two charts, showing how many eliminations B.R.U.T.E. mechs are typically racking up during a match, both as a number and then as a percentage of total kills.

These two charts show that the mechs, while significant, are not necessarily dominant in an average match of the game. “B.R.U.T.E. encounters should feel like a unique engagement and not be the dominant experience during a game,” the post says. The B.R.U.T.E. was adjusted slightly in update 10.10, and now has an aiming laser so other players can see where they are pointing. They’ve also been tweaked to spawn less often in competitive Arena modes, hence the much lower percentages we see in the charts above.

Fortnite’s tenth season is likely to run until early October.

Playtonic has, in its own cheeky way, announced a release window for Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, the upcoming second game in the series.

The game will release in October, although a specific day within October has not been clarified. The news came via a video tweeted out by the official Playtonic Twitter account, along with the caption “Good things are coming in October…” In a follow-up tweet, the developer said that the music in the original video was from a new Grant Kirkhope track that will be released in full next week.

The new game, announced in June, is a 2.5D platformer created by many of the key talents who were behind the original Donkey Kong Country. It’ll mix platforming and puzzles, and a sidescrolling platforming sections with a 3D top-down overworld. If it’s anything like the original Yooka-Laylee, it’ll be full of retro throwbacks. The game is coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC.

In her 6/10 review of the original Yooka-Laylee, Kallie Plagge said that “despite attempts at modernizing the formula, its style of gameplay is still outdated, and it doesn’t stay challenging or interesting for long as a result.”

Bethesda surprised gamers with releases of Doom, Doom 2, and Doom 3 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One during QuakeCon 2019. While exciting, fans quickly discovered that all three re-releases required a Bethesda.net account to access the game and/or certain features. A new patch now provides the option to skip the login altogether.

Bethesda tweeted that a new update for Doom and Doom 2 lets you skip the Bethesda login screen. The patch will also remove the message that you have disconnected from the server during gameplay, letting you slaughter demons in heavy metal peace.

While there isn’t a release date yet, Bethesda says it’s working on a permanent fix to “reduce [the login’s] visibility.” Bethesda notes that the login is optional, though several outlets–including Eurogamer and Kotaku–have pointed out that though Doom and Doom 2 can be played offline, an internet connection and a Bethesda account are required once before playing either title offline.

Bethesda and developer Id Software are gearing up for the hellish release of Doom Eternal, which is expected to launch for Google Stadia, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 22. It serves as a direct sequel to 2016’s Doom and aims to be a “fantasy combat puzzle,” a phrase creative director Hugo Martin used to describe the “well-crafted experience” the team’s making.

Though dormant for over a decade, Power Stone remains one of the most memorable games Capcom has ever released. There may not be any definitive plans to bring back the series, but the game’s producer would love to see the quirky 3D brawler make a return–especially on Nintendo Switch.

In an interview with The Guardian, designer Hideaki Itsuno broke down how Power Stone came into existence. By assembling arcade and console developers for a project way outside Capcom’s usual wheelhouse, the Dreamcast brawler aimed to be “something that would be well received by players other than just hardcore fighting fans,” according to Itsuno. It seems to have worked, as Power Stone producer Takeshi Tezuka reports “still get[ting] messages from fans” about the much-loved series.

Tezuka says some of these messages come in the form requests for him to bring Power Stone back. “People tweet requests to me to make another Power Stone, which I’d love to do if I got the chance,” Tezuka told the Guardian. “It would be a particularly great fit for the Nintendo Switch.”

Power Stone debuted in 1999 for arcades and the Sega Dreamcast. The game made such a splash for Capcom that an anime adaptation was approved and aired from April to September of 1999. About a year and a half later, the sequel, Power Stone 2, made its way to the same platforms. Six years later, in October/November 2006, the PlayStation Portable saw the Power Stone Collection, a two-pack featuring ports of both Power Stone titles.

In our Power Stone review, we said, “All in all, Power Stone is a very fun and unconventional fighter. However, the excitement is short lived.”

In our Power Stone 2 review, we said, “Fans of the original Power Stone will be pleased with the similar, yet definitely enhanced feel of Power Stone 2. As a four-player game, it’s definitely one of the wildest fighters to come to the Dreamcast.”

Ben Irving, the lead producer on BioWare’s action-RPG Anthem, has announced he’s leaving the company. In a statement on Twitter, Irving said that he has accepted a position with another company and that the game still has a “bright future” under current leadership.

In his series of tweets, Irving says BioWare was his “dream place” to work since the first time he played Baldur’s Gate. He thanks the Anthem community for being so engaged “through the good times and the tough times,” and says they’re in good hands with Jesse Anderson and Andrew Johnson. It’s unclear, from his statement, who will be filling the lead producer role for future Anthem updates. He also referenced an opportunity at a new developer, but has not specified where.

Irving has been with BioWare since 2011, serving a variety of roles including lead development director for The Old Republic franchise and the lead producer on Star Wars: The Old Republic. Anthem struggled with a rocky launch, and recently launched its anticipated Cataclysm update.

GameSpot has reached out to EA for comment.

Toy Story 4 has crossed a massive money milestone that makes it one of the biggest movies of 2019 and yet another example of Disney’s domination at the box office.

The movie, which was made by Disney’s Pixar studio, has now surpassed $1 billion USD in box office receipts worldwide. Toy Story 4 has made $421.3 million from the Americas and $579.9 million from international markets, according to box office numbers posted by BoxOfficeMojo.

Toy Story 4 is the sixth movie of 2019 to make at least $1 billion at the box office. The other five include Avengers: Endgame ($2.79 billion), The Lion King ($1.34 billion), Captain Marvel ($1.12 billion), Spider-Man: Far From Home ($1.098 billion), and Aladdin ($1.035 billion).

As you can see, five of the six movies that made $1 billion or more this year came from Disney, with Sony’s Spider-Man: Far From Home the only exception. All of them are sequels or franchise movies of some kind. Disney will probably get at least one more billion dollar-earning movie this year, as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in December.

Toy Story 4 also becomes Pixar’s fourth movie to make more than $1 billion, joining Incredibles 2 ($1.24 billion), Toy Story 3 ($1.06 billion), and Finding Dory ($1.02 billion).

Only 43 movies in history have made more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office. All of the box office numbers here are not adjusted for inflation.